Meet Shahid Saeed Ansari, an India cricketer by day and a delivery agent by night!

Meet Shahid Saeed Ansari, India’s wheelchair cricket team wicketkeeper, who delivers food on e-wheelchair in Malad to make ends meet

Shahid Saeed Ansari’s life is a juggle… and a struggle! By day, the wheelchair-bound cricketer, who represents the Indian team, practises his batting and wicketkeeping skills, and by night (7 pm to 11 pm), he negotiates the busy Malad traffic as a Zomato delivery agent. Ansari, 44, has played around 40 international matches for India since 2017, scoring one half-century besides numerous stumpings and sharp catches.

Shahid Saeed Ansari has always been in love with cricket despite losing sensation in both feet after a severe bout of fever at the age of one. His mother Shamim, 73, excitedly illustrates how he would crawl, climb and then jump over a three-foot wall adjoining their home to get to a nearby ground to play with his friends when he was a kid. “He would always say he’ll play for India one day, but we thought it was impossible,” Shamim tells mid-day in their modest 10 feet by 20 feet tenement in the narrow bylanes of Malwani, Malad.

India wheelchair cricketer Shahid Saeed Ansari plays one on the off side during a practice session in Malwani, Malad, yesterday. Pics/Nimesh Dave

Could not afford school

Also Read: Satwik-Chirag sail into Rd 2

Ansari’s story is one of sheer grit and determination. He studied at Queen Mary HS in Malad till Class IV after which he had to leave school due to financial constraints. A few years later, he enrolled for a technical course at the Yashwantrao College in Borivli, but had to give that up too due to lack of funds. That’s when he started doing odd jobs to survive. “I began stitching clothes at an outlet in the 1990s. A few years later, I repaired electric appliances at home. Then came the mobile revolution in the 2000s and I learnt how to repair phones. This continued till 2015 even as I kept playing gully cricket with friends, not knowing wheelchair cricket even existed. In 2015, I got to know of it and started training. In 2017, there was a selection trial in Agra, where I got picked for the Bangladesh series and made my India debut,” explains Ansari, who plays as an all-rounder in the Maharashtra state team.

Ansari is proud of his lone half-century in 40-odd internationals. “There are no official statistics for Indian wheelchair cricket, so I can’t give you numbers, but that 60 was a match-winning effort against Bangladesh in Dhaka during a three match T20I tour there in 2017-18,” says Ansari. 

Ansari with his collection of trophies and medals at his modest home in Malwani 

Asia Cup coming up

Currently, Ansari is training hard for the 3rd Asia Cup to be held in Pakistan this April followed by an eight-team World Cup (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, Kenya) also to be held in the neighouring nation. His cricket journey though hasn’t been financially rewarding. 

“Agra-based Divyang Cricket Control Board is our parent body, but with the Board of Control for Cricket in India not considering us for affiliation, funding is our biggest problem. We India players are not paid. Only if we win a tournament, the prize money, which maybe a couple of lakh rupees, is split between all of us,” says Ansari, which is why he decided to rent an electric wheelchair around a year back to work as a food delivery agent. 

Ansari heads out for a Zomato delivery in Malad yesterday 

“Zomato have been kind. Initially, they would pay Rs 18 per delivery, so monthly I earned just Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000. But recently, they increased the amount to R80 for wheelchair agents. Now I earn Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 per month of which 30 per cent goes towards rent for my electric wheelchair. A new electric wheelchair costs around R1 lakh which is obviously unaffordable for me. But the good thing about this job is that I work in the evenings  [7pm to 11pm] so I can do my cricket practice in the morning or afternoon,” says Ansari. 

Mounting expenses

The income is clearly insufficient as he has cricket equipment to purchase regularly besides four mouths to feed. “My daughter Huraina is three and will start school next year, so my expenses will increase. I hope to get a private or a government job that offers stability,” he says.

But Ansari is not one to sit around and sulk meanwhile. He is preparing to organise a national-level three-team (Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh) Wheelchair Cricket League in the city and is spreading the word among promising wheelchair-bound cricketers and also approaching 
sponsors. 

As fate would have it, one of his Zomato deliveries took him to Malad-based restaurateur Ronnie D’Souza, who also runs UK United Sports, where players are coached in disciplines like horse riding, football, hockey and basketball. “When Shahid approached me, I was touched and promised to help him. I hope and pray the wheels of fortune keep turning for him from now on,” says D’Souza.

Those interested in helping Shahid Saeed Ansari can get in touch with him on 7977987417

Shahid Ansari’s international career highs

2017
Made his international debut in a three-match T20I bilateral series against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

2018
Played in a three-match T20I bilateral series against Bangladesh in Mumbai.

2018
Played in a T20I triangular series in Kathmandu, Nepal (involving the hosts and Bangladesh).

2019
Played in the first edition of the Wheelchair Cricket Asia Cup T20I tournament in Kathmandu, Nepal

2023
Played in the 2nd Wheelchair Cricket Asia Cup T20I tournament in Kathmandu, Nepal

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!